Williams runs for record in blowout

— Before the start of the fourth quarter of No. 16 Virginia Tech's 38-10 win Saturday against North Carolina State, running back Ryan Williams had put in enough work to have time for a brief discussion with teammate Darren Evans.

There was no mention of the fact Williams had broken Evans' Atlantic Coast Conference and school freshman single-season rushing-yards record in the first half. Evans, who is sitting out the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee after running for 1,265 yards last season, asked Williams if he realized he'd carried the ball 32 times, including 26 in the first half.

Williams didn't have a clue. Though he told Evans he was ready for 50 carries, Tech (8-3 overall, 5-2 ACC) didn't need Williams' services in the fourth quarter of its senior-day massacre.

"(The rushing record) really doesn't matter to me," said Williams, a redshirt freshman who had 32 carries for 120 yards and four touchdowns, and has 1,335 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.

"I'd really just rather be considered as one of the best anywhere I go. I'd really just like to make a statement — not 'Ryan Williams, he had all these type of records,' but 'Ryan Williams, when he left here, he was the best at Virginia Tech.' That's what I want."

As far as Tech's seniors were concerned, linebacker Cody Grimm made sure the spotlight would be on him from the start. Grimm, who finished with eight tackles including two sacks, forced three fumbles on N.C. State's first four plays from scrimmage and recovered one of them. His three forced fumbles tied a Football Bowl Subdvision-record for most by a player in a game.

"It was more a case of getting kind of lucky, but I'll take it," Grimm said. "Realistically, if I didn't have those three fumbles, it wasn't any better of a day than usual — and those three fumbles were kind of lucky."

That's a humble assessment. Grimm blitzed on the first play of the game, hitting quarterback Russell Wilson and forcing a fumble that Grimm recovered at N.C. State's 34-yard line. Tech took advantage with a 26-yard field goal by Matt Waldron with 11:50 left in the first quarter.

On the second play of N.C. State's next drive, Grimm stripped running back Toney Baker and cornerback Stephan Virgil recovered the loose ball at N.C. State's 25. Williams helped extend Tech's lead to 10-0 via a 4-yard touchdown run with 7:55 remaining in the quarter.

Grimm flattened Baker again on his next carry, popping the ball out on the first play of N.C. State's third drive, but wide receiver Owen Spencer recovered it at the Wolfpack's 21. From there, N.C. State (4-7, 1-6) finally managed to get something going on offense.

On third-and-14 from N.C. State's 45, Wilson found wide receiver Jay Smith running behind cornerback Rashad Carmichael and hit Smith for a 33-yard gain. Wilson, who was 15-of- 26 passing for 234 yards, a touchdown and an interception while being sacked five times, finished the drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Spencer for a touchdown with 2:20 left to cut Tech's lead to 10-7.

After giving up 93 yards to N.C. State in the first quarter, Tech's defense surrendered just 166 yards the rest of the game. N.C. State managed 14 rushing yards for the game — the fewest rushing yards against Tech since Maryland had minus-12 on Nov. 6, 2008, in the Hokies' 23-13 win. Tech, which produced 397 yards on offense, has held its last three opponents to under 278 yards.

Williams' rushing pace slowed significantly in the second half, as he carried six more times for 44 yards. His best run came in the third quarter when he took a handoff and ran left, dragging safety Earl Wolff for about the last 10 yards of a 19-yard touchdown run that put Tech ahead 31-10 with 12:25 left in the quarter.

As vanilla as Tech's offense may have seemed with Williams getting the bulk of the workload, wide receiver Jarrett Boykin also provided a few receiving highlights.

Boykin had a 26-yard catch on Tech's first play of the second half from quarterback Tyrod Taylor, a Hampton High graduate who was 9-of-17 passing for 197 yards and a touchdown. On Tech's third drive of the third quarter, Boykin had a 35-yard reception on third-and-4 from the Hokies' 9. Boykin had six catches in the game for a career-high 164 yards.

He capped the drive with a diving 38-yard touchdown catch in front of cornerback Jarvis Byrd to push Tech's lead to 38-10 with 1:42 left in the quarter. His touchdown grab highlighted a six-play, 97-yard drive — Tech's longest scoring drive of the season.

"Jarrett made a couple of great adjustments on the ball and got those big claws up there and came down with it," Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "He is very, very dependable. If you get that ball up there around him, we have a very good shot of coming down with it."

North Carolina State coach Tom O'Brien had every reason to believe his offense could move the ball Saturday against No. 16 Virginia Tech. After all, it had produced at least 338 yards in all but one game entering Saturday.

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